Hammer.



PATENTED APR. 7, 1903.

W. W. BROWNELL.

HAMMER.

APPLICATION FILED MAR, 31, 1902.

NO MODEL. 1

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM WV. BROWNELL, OF LAKE PLACID, NEW YORK.

HAMMER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 724,542, dated April 7, 1903.

Application filed March 31, 1902. Serial No. 100,847. (No model.)

To all whom zit-may concern:

Be it known that 1-, WILLIAM W. BROWN- ELL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Lake Placid, in the county of Essex and State of New York, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Hammers; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention,-such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to improvements in hammers and like tools, and particularly to an attachment for hammers, said attachment providing auxiliary claws, whereby nails partially withdrawn by the main claws may be entirely withdrawn by the auxiliary claws, enabling long nails to be withdrawn without bending.

The object of the invention is to provide an auxiliary claw attachment which may be applied to hammers already in use without in any. manner altering the construction of the hammer or weakeningit by the formation of an opening therein to receive an auxiliary claw, said claw being applicable to any of the forms of hammers in common use and reversible, so that the main claws or hammer-head may be used as the fulcrum on which the hammer rocks in withdrawing a nail.

The invention consists of certain novel fea- 1 tures and parts and combinations of the same, as will be fully described hereinafter and then pointed out in the claims.

A practical embodiment of the invention is l represented in the accompanying drawings, in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the views.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a hammer 'embodying myinvention, showing the attachment as arranged when the curved faces of the main claws are employed as the fulcrum. Fig. 2 is a similar view showing the attachment reversed to adapt the hammer to be rocked upon its head as a fulcrum. Fig. 3 is a cross-section through the hammer-handle and attachment. Fig. 4: is a detail-perspective view of the attachment removed, and Fig. 5 is a perspective view showing a modification.

Referring to the drawings, 1 represents the handle of a hammer; 2, its poll or socket; 3, the hammer-head, and 4 the main claws.

5 represents the attachment, consisting of a block or body provided with claws 6. The said block or body is formed in its upper face with a longitudinalseat or groove 7 to receive the handle and at one end is enlarged by lugs 7 to abut against the rear part of the socket 2. The sides of the body are formed at or about midway of their length with eyes 8, which receive the arms of a clip or clevis 9, which are threaded for the reception of clamping-nuts 10. The clip 9 is adapted, as shown, to embrace the handle and secure the attachment thereto, while the forward enlarged end, bearing the lugs 7, is adapted to bear upon the socket 2, so as to reinforce the attachment to sustain the strain and prevent the shifting of said attachment when the auxiliary claws 6 are employed to draw anail. By thus constructing the attachment the same is adaptable for application to any hammer and the necessity of specially constructing the hammer to receive the attachment is entirely obviated.

By reference to Fig. 1 it will be seen that the attachment may be applied upon the claw side of the handle, so as to extend inwardly beyond the main .claws and above the same, so that when a nail has been started and partially withdrawn by the main claws the auxiliary claws may be engaged therewith and the handle rocked upon the main claws to draw the nail out straight, during which operation the attachment also reduces the strain upon the handle. When the nail is of .abnormal lengththat is, too long to be withdrawn easily by the parts when arranged as shown in Fig. l-the attachment may be reversed, so as to project from the hammerhead side of the hammer and engage with the head of the partially-drawn nail, so that when the hammer is rocked upon the head as a fulcrum a wider range of movement may be secured for extracting the nail. I, Thus it will be seen that the device possesses a wider range of usefulness than auxiliary claws of that kind either formed integral with the handle or seated in a socket in the handle' and may be applied to handles of ordinary ICO construction and when so applied will reinforce the handle for a considerable distance in rear of the socket, thus diminishing to a material extent liability of breakage of the handle.

In the modified construction shown in Fig. 5 the outer end of the body portion of the attachment is formed with a transverse groove or recess 11 to receive a notched clampingblock 12, which block is provided with openings to receive the arms of the clip to secure the attachment to the handle.

Heretofore it has been proposed to provide an ordinary claw-hammer with an auxiliary claw formed integrally with the main claw upon the hammer-head, said auxiliary claw being set in rear of the main claw and made shorter than said main claw, so that nails partially drawn by the main claw may be entirelydrawn by the auxiliary claw. The main objection to this construction is that long nails cannot be drawn with facility or without bending them, for the reason that when the hammer is rocked on the main claw as a fulcrum the distance between the fulcrumpoint and auxiliary claw remains the same, thus causing the auxiliary claw to have but little direct upward pull and to swing in an arc of small radius. By my construction this objection is entirely overcome, as by the application of the auxiliary claw to the handle, so that said claw is disposed in rear of the main claw, the distance between the fulcrum-point and auxiliary claw increases as the hammer is rocked on the main claw, so that the auxiliary claw swings in an arc of greater radius, whereby long nails may be quickly extracted without bending.

From the foregoing description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, the construction, mode of operation, and advantages of the invention will be readily understood without requiring an extended explanation.

Various changes in the form, proportion, and details of construction maybe made within the scope of the invention without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages thereof.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

l. A hammer comprising a socket to receive the handle, and oppositely-extending claw and head, in combination with an auxiliary claw bearing against the inner end of the hammer-socket, and means to secure said auxiliary claw to the handle, said auxiliary claw being shiftable revolubly on the handle and thereby adapted to be disposed in line either with the hammer claw or head, at will, substantially as described.

2. A hammer having a main claw and an auxiliary claw on diiferent portions of the handle and one shiftable revolubly on the handle independently of the other, so that they may be disposed either in or out of line with each other, substantially as described.

3. A hammer having a main claw and an auxiliary claw on different portions of the handle, one of the claws being shiftable into and out of line with the other, substantially as described.

at. An auxiliary claw member for a hammer, having a longitudinal seat to receive one side of the hammer-handle, and means to secure the claw member to the handle, substantially as described.

5. An auxiliary claw member for a hammer, having a seat to receive the hammerhandle and means to shiftably secure the auxiliary claw member to the handle, so that the auxiliary claw may be disposed either in or out of line with the main claw of the hammer, substantially as described.

6. An auxiliary claw member for a 11ammer, having a longitudinal seat to receive one side of the hammer-handle and a pair of lugs at the outer end of said seat, disposed to receive the hammer-handle between them and to bear against the inner end of the hammer-socket in which the handle is secured, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

WM. \V. BRO\VNELL.

Witnesses:

WM. H. TRACY, NOEL FELDSTEIN. 

